Ray's Music Exchange

So much has been said about the band Ray’s Music Exchange. Since their Cincinnati, Ohio appearance on the HORDE Festival in 1998, Ray’s has been cultivating a sound that is sincere and unique. Molded in the historical musical crossroads of the Midwest, and born out of the soul of electric funk and jazz-fusion of the 1960’s and ‘70’s, their music is often a launch pad for intense musical interaction and open-ended improvisation that transcends genre. Influences ranging from Aquarium Rescue Unit and the Meters to John Zorn and Frank Zappa lightly pepper their compositions already fortified with tight grooves and lyrical melodies, and help lure in unsuspecting music lovers of all backgrounds before they know what has hit them. Ray’s Music Exchange is not about flashing lights for the mind-numbed raver or three chords and the truth for the bull headed traditionalist, but instead a refreshing alternative for the thinker, dancer, and rocker alike.

Over the past six years RME has produced five Cds, traveled the country, and shared the stage with many of the artists they admire including John Scofield, Oteil Burbridge, Mike Clark, Stanley Jordan, Victor Wooten, Col. Bruce Hampton, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Garaj Mahal, and Leftover Salmon. They have also cultivated musical relationships with many of today’s hottest up and coming bands like Umphrey’s McGee, The Slip, Galactic, and Ozomatli. Though their musical line up has been varied over the years, Ray’s Music Exchange has always been dedicated to developing solid musicianship and providing a nurturing environment for like-minded players to develop their craft. Alumni of the band have gone on to develop solo careers of their own or play with bands like Jazz Mandolin Project, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Musical constants over the years include guitarist Brad Myers, bassist Nick Blasky, and trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist Michael “Mad Dog” Mavridoglou, all of whom are inventive improvisers, accomplished players and skilled composers. Drummer Joe Jahnigen, Keyboardist Mike Darrah, and Saxophonist Steve Kortyka, all seasoned young jazz lions in their own right, were added to the roster in 2004 and round out an impressive ensemble that is ready to bend the ears of the casual listener as well as the proficient professional.

In 2003, Ray’s Music Exchange was added to the musical lineage and history of the City of Cincinnati at the Cincinnati Museum Center for their award winning debut live release “Alivexchange”. Their fifth and latest studio CD “Blue in the Face” is due out in 2004 and features an energetic set of original music by the band’s core quartet of the past year featuring drummer Eli Hludzik. This independent release focuses on a tighter more cohesive sound than previous releases, and proves that Ray’s Music Exchange is a band worthy of sharing the stage with the most celebrated improvisational bands of today. Swimming against the stream in the sea of banality that is the commercial music industry, Ray’s Music Exchange is taking the road less traveled, one of independence, sincerity, longevity, and imagination… and that has made all the difference.